Briggid's Holiday
by Cyber Emblem
Summary: A secret santa fic for Undercover-Dark-Knight. It focuses on Briggid's scattered thoughts shortly before the winter festival in Silesse. In continuity with Crusaders Reborn and Fall of Our Fathers


This was the first winter festival that Briggid had ever spent like this, surrounded by this level of merriment. Sure, the Orgahill pirates could be merry, but it was the raucous kind of merry. The kind where you sang carols while you were completely and utterly drunk. Preparation for the winter festival in Silesse with Sigurd's army was different, this was the cozy kind of merry, something completely different from anything that she had ever experienced. They didn't need to get drunk to be pleasant, they just genuinely were, and no threats, joking or otherwise were thrown at one another. It was nice. While the season came undercut with an air of sadness over the terrible hardships that they had had to go through, they had managed to move on with their lives and were now producing new ones. Her sister had a son on the first day of April, and Ayra had given birth to twins in early May. Those were the newest additions, but there were more on the way. Tailto had a noticeable bulge in her stomach, and Ferry was very blatantly pregnant, 9 months so. Briggid wouldn't be the least bit surprised if she went into labor during the festival week. Actually, she was counting on it. She had bet 2000 gold on it against Beowolf's guess of the week before or after. Well, it was about a day before the festivities officially started, so they would see.

Speaking of Beowolf, Briggid thought that she could detect a slight bulge in the stomach of his… woman. The blond that he'd hooked up with who's name Briggid couldn't quite remember. Briggid didn't quite like the woman, though she wasn't quite sure why. Maybe it was her attitude and the way she carried herself. To Briggid, it just screamed "I'm better than this, I'm better than all of you." A bit hypocritical for a woman that everybody knew was having an affair with a mercenary in order to spite a young knight that had rejected her grief-driven seduction attempts… wow, that sounded harsh, even in her head. Briggid had never been that judgmental. After all, she grew up surrounded by pirates, and she had always figured that any kids that she might have would be bastards, and she was totally fine with that. Maybe her sister had influenced her thinking.

Her sister, now wasn't that a surprise! Her whole life, Briggid had thought that she was the only daughter of the leader of the Orgahill pirates. But no, he had adopted her after he found her shipwrecked when she was around five years old. Her real family was one of the noble houses of Grannvale, and she had a twin sister! It's funny how life works out some times. Just when she had been forced to run away from the only life that she had ever knew, she had simply bumped in to her old one. Now Briggid was a sister and an aunt and, judging by the way Adean carried herself lately, she would be again in about half a year. That would be fun, Briggid enjoyed playing with Lester, and would gladly watch over both of them if asked, and she got along fine with her sister's husband. There was one problem however, with being around Adean's family, and that was the fact that Adean kept asking Briggid why she didn't start one of her own.

It had been ten months since Sigurd's army had come to Silesse, and Adean had been asking for the past nine. That was the one thing that Briggid could not stand about her sister, her persistence on broaching that topic. She could understand why Adean did it. Adean had grown up in very different conditions, and she had a prominent member of the church, and thus she had certain ideas about a woman's place and how a woman should act. Briggid didn't share those ideas, but she sympathized with them, and she wasn't against starting a family. In all honesty, she had always wanted a son, but she wanted to fight and work alongside him, not settle down and take up housework. Desire for a child or not, Briggid wasn't in a hurry to make that happen. Unfortunately, everyone else seemed to be. Azel and Tailto had gotten together so quickly, that if Briggid hadn't been told that the two had been lifelong best friends, she would have thought she was witnessing a whirlwind romance. Now she was the only single lady left in the army, and all the single guys knew it.

Well, it would make the festival especially interesting for her, and she wouldn't be lacking in brand new things, so she didn't think that it was a terrible thing, though some of the guys seemed a bit overly desperate, ESPECIALLY that one knight with the turban, Briggid couldn't even remember his name, she just wasn't interested in him. If she HAD to pick, it would either be the Verdane prince or the blond mercenary from Isaac. What were their names again? Ah yes, Jamke and Holyn. Jamke was a gentleman, and Briggid felt that if she went with him, she would be well treated, and she wouldn't have to worry about being respected by her peers, something she had lacked during her short tenure as a pirate captain. However, he was a prince, and thus, she'd have to get used to a very different lifestyle. Holyn, on the flip side, was a mercenary and she'd have to earn respect from her peers, which she didn't mind, and Briggid felt that if she chose him, she'd get a lot more enjoyment out of the relationship.

Briggid shook her head. Despite the pressure, she wasn't being forced to do anything, it was the holidays! It would be better to enjoy and get the best out of the here and now. So, Briggid left her table and went out to the nearest village. What she found was bandits, because of course she did. "HEY!" she shouted "attacking innocent people at a time like this? Do you have no shame? Now how about you pick on someone who can actually fight back?!"

The bandit leader just folded his arms and narrowed his eyes. "Akira, put her in her place." he ordered, and a rather dangerous looking swordsman pulled out his weapon and started spinning his sword around in a way that was supposed to demonstrate skill, but he fumbled and had to quickly but noticeably stop his blade from falling to the ground, and then he rushed at Briggid. She just sighed, drew back her bowstring sent an arrow flying through his heart. It hit the ground by the bandit leader's feet. The swordsman dropped dead in the snow. The bandit leader looked annoyed "goddamn it, you had one job, and you couldn't even do that! Alright, Nappa, with me, we'll put her in her place." and they rushed forward. Briggid immediately realized that they were not very good at this, and the two men were charging at her in a line. She rolled her eyes and fired a single shot. It went right through Nappa's skull and into the bandit leader's heart. They both dropped dead into the snow.

Briggid looked at the remaining bandits. "This is the part where you run away in hysterics." she said, and that's what they did. Briggid noticed one of them carrying a young woman under his arm, and she shot him dead. The townsfolk were incredibly grateful. While Briggid was glad for the recognition, there was something about all of this that was bugging her. "Don't you have anyone who could have prevented that?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" asked one of the local men.

"What I mean is, those bandits weren't actually much of a threat. Three of you with a decent amount of weapons or self defense training could have stopped them. Do you not have anyone who can defend you?" asked Briggid.

The town elder shook his head. "No, not in the village itself. We live relatively close to the castle, so the pegasus knights can get her in a hurry if needed, they were just distracted today, I assume, considering that the festival is about to start."

Well don't you think that some of you should have some training just in case of a scenario like this, where the bandits aren't to much of a threat? I don't mean training anybody as soldiers, by the way. What I mean is, have someone teach a few of you some of the basics in your and their spare time."

"We've never been given that kind of offer." said the elder

"Well I'm offering. I'm an expert with the bow, and I know a little about swords, plus, I'm with Sigurd's army and I have friends that can help you in other areas. We could probably give you basic weapons training in about a week or two." Briggid's offer got a positive response, and about a dozen young men volunteered, and so they all came back to the castle together. Briggid explained everything to Sigurd and to Lewyn and they both agreed that it was a good idea. As for helpers, Jamke and Holyn were the first ones to volunteer. Briggid had no doubts in her mind on why they volunteered but that was ok, she would be able to get to know them better at the same time when she would be helping to protect the innocent. As far as Briggid was concerned, this had turned out to be a wonderful day.


End file.
